Calorie targets
Our calorie deficit, macro and weight loss date calculators use the same maths as the Calo AI app, and are tested against the app's own outputs:
- Resting energy (BMR): the revised Harris-Benedict equation (Roza and Shizgal, 1984).
- Maintenance (TDEE): BMR x 1.2 (sedentary), 1.375 (lightly active), 1.55 (moderately active) or 1.725 (very active).
- Targets: maintenance minus 250, 500 or 750 kcal to lose weight, or plus 150, 300 or 500 kcal to gain. Targets never go below 1,200 kcal for women or 1,500 kcal for men.
- Macros: protein 2.0 g per kg when losing or gaining, 1.8 g per kg when maintaining; fat 25% or 30% of calories; carbs make up the rest.
- Goal dates: about 7,700 kcal per kg of body weight, using the deficit you would really have after the calorie floor.
The TDEE calculator also shows the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (1990), which a 2005 systematic review found to be the most reliable common equation for healthy adults. The two usually agree within about 5%.
Other calculators
- Protein: ICMR-NIN's 2020 recommended allowance of 0.83 g per kg for healthy adults, 1.4 to 2.0 g per kg for people who exercise (ISSN position stand, 2017), and 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg for fat loss or muscle gain (Morton and colleagues, 2018).
- Steps to calories: stride estimated from height, and energy from the ACSM walking equation (0.1 x speed in metres per minute + 3.5 ml of oxygen per kg per minute; about 5 kcal per litre of oxygen).
- Intermittent fasting: the five plans in the Calo AI fasting timer, from 12:12 to 20:4.
Food calorie guide
Every food page states which of three methods it uses:
- USDA FoodData Central: for single foods such as eggs, milk, fruit and nuts, we use laboratory values from the US Department of Agriculture's public database (SR Legacy, or FNDDS survey foods). The exact entry is linked on the page.
- Standard recipe: for Indian dishes, we write down a typical home recipe with gram weights, add up the USDA values for each raw ingredient, and divide by the cooked weight. The recipe and assumptions, including oil and ghee, are printed on the page.
- Cited reference: for the few foods USDA does not cover (for example makhana, which is not the same as lotus seed), we use a published study or official label, named on the page.
We round calories to the nearest 5 kcal and macros to the nearest 0.5 g, because home cooking varies more than that and false precision helps nobody. Every number in the text of a food page is filled in from the same calculation as its tables. An automatic check confirms that protein, carbs and fat add up to the stated calories.
Photo scanning
The photo calorie calculator and the app send your photo to an AI vision model that identifies the food, estimates portions and returns calories and macros. These are estimates. Portion size and hidden fat are the main sources of error, which is why you can add a description and correct any result.
How we use AI on this website
We use AI tools to help research and draft articles. Every article is checked by the Calo AI Team, every number comes from a cited source or our own calculation, and we do not publish testing, reviews or statistics we have not got evidence for. Comparison pages are checked against competitors' own websites and app store listings, and show the date of that check.
Limits
Our tools are for healthy adults and give general information, not medical advice. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, or managing a condition such as diabetes, PCOS, kidney disease or an eating disorder, please work out your targets with a doctor or registered dietitian.
Found a mistake? Email calorieplanai@gmail.com.